Effective and efficient ion processing is an important consideration in numerous chemical and industrial processes. In general, ion processing refers to those processes, and/or devices which implement such processes that are used to facilitate neutralization, removal, concentration, or other processing, of one or more ions present in a fluid stream, examples of which include industrial waste and process streams. One example of such a process concerns the removal of materials such as cesium, strontium, and/or uranium from an industrial waste stream prior to the discharge of the fluid stream into the environment.
While ion processing components and processes are often employed to remove undesirable constituents of a fluid volume or stream, such components and processes may also be used to collect and concentrate one or more desirable constituents of a fluid volume or stream so that those constituents can then be reserved for future use.
One area where ion processing techniques, materials, and devices are particularly useful is in the industrial environment. Typical industrial waste and process streams present at least two significant challenges to ion processing efforts. The first challenge relates to the flow rates of such industrial waste and process streams. Because industrial waste and process streams are often characterized by relatively high flow rates, the associated ion processing materials, systems, and components must be capable of admitting and processing the high flow rate waste and process streams without introducing an undue pressure drop or other resistance to flow that would tend to compromise the flow rate of those streams, and thereby slow down the overall rate at which ion processing occurs.
Another challenge that must be considered when implementing the treatment of industrial waste and process streams relates to the level of cleanliness that must be attained in the processed stream. In particular, the streams produced in industrial environments are often required to meet stringent standards with regard to the permissible concentration of various contaminants or other materials that are ultimately discharged into the environment. Thus, the treatment systems and devices must not only be able to handle relatively high fluid flow rates, but they must do so at a high level of efficiency.
Generally, the effectiveness and efficiency of a particular ion processing material is at least partially a function of the total surface area of the active component that contacts the material or fluid to be processed. The surface area, in turn, is a function of the porosity, or pore volume, of the ion processing material, so that relatively more porous ion processing materials typically possess a relatively greater surface area than relatively less porous ion processing materials. Thus, when considering two ion processing materials equivalent in all other regards, an ion processing material with a relatively larger surface area is capable of removing a relatively greater amount of contaminants or impurities from a fluid stream than an ion processing material with a relatively smaller surface area. In light of this relationship, a number of ion processing materials, systems, and devices have been devised with a view towards providing a relative increase in the surface area of the ion processing material so as to improve its effectiveness.
Various methods may be used to prepare ion processing materials so as to provide a relative increase in the surface area of the active component, of the ion processing material, that comes into contact with the fluid stream to be processed. In one case, the ion processing material takes the form of a composite medium that generally includes a supporting matrix and one or more active components dispersed within the matrix. Typically, the matrix comprises a plurality of small, slightly porous particles, sometimes referred to as beads. As suggested above, the overall surface area of the ion processing material that contacts the fluid stream simply comprises the sum of the surface areas of each of the individual beads which, in turn, is a function of pore volume.
In order to form the ion processing material, the matrix material is mixed with a particular active component selected for its ability to remove one or more pre-determined constituents from the fluid stream. The ion processing material thus produced is typically disposed in a column through which the fluid stream to be processed is passed. Because the beads of the matrix material often assume a somewhat spherical shape, a plurality of spaces is cooperatively defined by adjacent beads. Accordingly, the fluid stream is able to flow through the ion processing material by working its way through the spaces between the individual beads.
While the slight porosity of some beads allows for a relatively greater ion processing area than would be possible if the beads were simply solid, such matrix materials have, as a result of their relatively small pore volume, proven rather ineffective in providing the performance required for effective and efficient processing of high volume fluid streams. Of course, the surface area of such ion processing materials can be increased somewhat by increasing the number of beads present in a particular column. However, there are practical limits to the attainment of very small bead sizes. Furthermore, while an increase in the number of beads produces a desirable overall increase in pore volume, and thus ion processing area, the increase represents a tradeoff with respect to the flow rate that a particular ion processing material can effectively accommodate.
In particular, as bead size is reduced, the size of the air spaces between adjacent beads is correspondingly reduced. Reduction in the size of the air spaces has at least one unfavorable consequence with respect to the flow of the fluid stream. Specifically, assuming a constant flow velocity, the volume of fluid that can flow through an opening is primarily a function of the size or area of that opening. This idea is generally expressed in the relationship Q=Va, where “Q” is the volume of fluid flow per unit of time, “V” is the velocity of the fluid, and “a” is the area through which the fluid passes.
In general then, where two volumes of ion processing materials in the form of respective composite media, equal in all other respects, have different numbers of beads, the volume of the ion processing material with relatively more beads defines a relatively smaller space through which the process stream can flow. In view of the aforementioned flow relationship, this means that the volume of ion processing material with a relatively greater number of beads is relatively more resistant to the flow of the process stream. Accordingly, in the case of an ion processing material comprised of very small particles, a powdered ion processing material for example, the resistance of the ion processing material to fluid flow is significant.
Thus, in the case of ion processing materials comprised of a composite medium employing a bead-type matrix, the surface area of the ion processing material can be readily increased by increasing the number of beads. However, due to the inverse relationship, discussed above, between the air volume defined by the ion processing material and the ability of a given volume of the ion processing material to pass a predetermined flow, there are practical limits to the extent to which the surface area may usefully be increased.
As suggested earlier, another common ion processing material configuration is designed along the same general principles as those ion processing materials formed as composite media, but takes on a somewhat different form. In this particular configuration, no matrix is employed. Rather, a finely granulated or powdered active component is simply compressed under high pressure to form an ion processing material comprising a plurality of granules, or pellets, which are then disposed in a column for processing of a fluid stream.
While ion processing materials using compressed active component configurations typically have relatively large surface areas, they suffer from a variety of significant shortcomings. First, because the active component is initially in a powdered form, the flow of the fluid through a bed of granules of the active component of the ion processing material tends to wash away some of the active component, thus reducing the effectiveness and efficiency of the ion processing material over time. Another problem is that granules or pellets of the compressed active component tend to be rather brittle and can be easily broken and thereby rendered ineffective. Further, ion processing materials formed in this manner tend to crumble and fall apart over a period of time. Such ion processing material configurations are not well suited to withstand the rough handling and other conditions that may occur in many industrial environments.
Yet another shortcoming of compressed active component ion processing materials concerns the compression process that is used to form the granules or pellets of the compressed active component. In particular, large compressive forces are typically employed in order to ensure that the active component granules assume and retain the desired shape and size. However, the forces used to form the active component granules compress the active component so tightly that it is often the case that the fluid flow being processed never penetrates to the active component at the inner portion of the granules. Thus, the ion processing capacity of the active component in these types of ion processing materials is not fully utilized and much of the active component is essentially wasted. Such waste unnecessarily increases the amount, and thus the cost, of the ion processing material.
While the aforementioned shortcomings are of some concern in low volume ion processing applications such as might be encountered in a laboratory, these characteristics of ion processing materials that comprise compressed active component granules render such ion processing materials particularly unsuited for high volume applications such as are typically encountered in industrial environments.
In view of the foregoing problems and shortcomings with existing ion processing materials, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a composite medium comprising one or more active components uniformly dispersed in a matrix material having a relatively high surface area, and to provide a composite medium that offers relatively little resistance to fluid flow while affording the ability to employ a wide range of active component weight percent loading conditions.